Athletes who participate in rough water sports, such as ocean swimming, surfing, wind-surfing, scuba diving or triathlons, or rough road sports such as moto-cross and mountain bike riding often wear special watches designed with features important to the sport. For example, scuba divers need to set their watches to keep track of the time spent at different depths. These watches are designed for user interaction during the sports activity. Jarring caused by rough waters, or rough roads, the salt content of the ocean and the design of most watches, often cause the pins in the sports watches to wear out, break or work lose. The watch is subsequently lost when it falls off the wrist of the wearer. Such specialty watches are relatively expensive.
The prior art teaches the use of a transparent protective shell integrally attached to a wrist band as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,277,842 (Richards, 1981) and 2,584,270 (Hucknall, 1948). The shell is positioned over the crystal of the wearer's watch to protect it from water and dirt. The band is either adjustable, as in Richards, or an endless wide elastic strip, as in Hucknall. The shell encasing the watch crystal makes it impossible for the wearer to make any adjustments to the watch while the protective cover is in place.
Unlike watches worn as jewelry or ornamentation, sports watches of the type for which this invention is used are dynamic pieces of equipment. They may have a dial used for setting times, depths, distances or any other standard measurement. Modern sports watches often have buttons and knobs for activating a stop-watch device, for setting and stopping an alarm or for clocking times and distances. It is essential to the function of the watch that the wearer have access to the watch crystal at all times The present invention leaves the watch crystal accessible to the wearer by having a central opening through which the watch crystal and encircling bezel passes.
The prior art also teaches encasing the watch in a transparent casing, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,076,221 (Bradbury, 1937) and 2,227,131 (Friedman, 1940). Bradbury discloses use of a transparent tube which encircles the wrist of the wearer, and which is folded over to completely encapsulate the watch. It is difficult to get on, since the watch must be folded into the band, then the entire device slipped onto the wearer's wrist. Friedman discloses a water- and sandproof encasement for the watch with an adjustable strap and buckle. Exposed to salt water and other rough elements, the buckle may fall off, and the wearer may lose the watch. As with the Richards and Hucknall patents, both Bradbury and Friedman restrict access to the watch crystal. Most sports watches today are designed to allow the user to adjust dials located on the watch. By encapsulating the watch, the wearer is prevented from using the protected watch, thus defeating the purpose of owning a sports watch.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,857,195 (Karpf, 1932) and 2,249,550 (Williams, 1941) disclose placing a strip of transparent material over the wrist and watch of the wearer to protect and guard the watch. Karpf and Williams use continuous transparent tubing which stretches around the wearer's wrist, completely covering the watch and restricting access to the watch bezel.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,344,136 (Dressen, 1944) discloses a wrist watch protector which is not transparent. It is specifically designed to cover the crystal of the watch, and was intended for use by soldiers. Dressen has a transversely split band with a clasp mechanism for adjustable fit. The edges of the band are tubing containing elastic band to assure a tight fit around the edges of the wrist watch band. The elastic in the outer edges permits the wearer to lift the edges of the watch to see what time it is. For athletes who require concentration and the use of both hands to participate, as in wind-surfing, such a wrist watch protector would not be useful.
There is thus a need for a sports wrist watch protector that prevents the watch from being dislodged from the wearer's wrist due to pins falling out, while at the same time allowing the wearer to access the watch crystal, encircling bezel and adjustment buttons and knobs thereon.